Metaphysicians

The Greece-China Year of Culture and Tourism 2021 will be inaugurated this May, officials said in a written statement on Wednesday.

Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni held a meeting this week with Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zhang Qiyue to discuss the program of events that will run from May 2021 until May 2022, according to an e-mailed press release from the ministry.

In celebration of 2,400 years since the birth of the great Greek thinker of antiquity and one of the fathers of western philosophy, Aristotle, UNESCO proclaimed 2016 the ‘Year of Aristotle’. A series of events to honour Aristotle have been scheduled throughout the year, with the most prestigious one planned to take place in Paris in November.

Minister of Macedonia and Thrace Giorgos Orfanos has criticized plans to establish a department of Islamic Studies at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

In comments made Thursday, Orfanos said that it would be wrong to mix the study of Orthodox faith with “something else.”

Aristotle’s Lyceum, believed to have been established as the ancient philosopher’s seat of learning in 335 BC, opened to the public on Wednesday after years of preparations.